The Problem with Norway:

With time, there are quite a few things outside this country's borders that have given me the best experiences in life, such as love, and something that resembles popularity.

I don't seem to have managed anything particularly positive together with people from Norway, to be quite honest. Several examples with people from other countries. One of the first things was perhaps ArtGrounds and Sketcher. An art community and digital painting app. I suddenly had a kind of friend group. And got my first girlfriend, from the USA.

After that, positive social experiences have been rather scarce here in Norway, with the exception of a couple of pals.

I'm generally perceived as a bit difficult, I've come to realise. You have to be simple and straightforward here in Norway, and in many ways, that is not who I am.

My enthusiasm for the climate, the food and the culture is also rather limited. I simply don't see much reason to be satisfied with what I see around me. I have a kind of basic material security, but most other things are lacking.

As I've said before: I feel like an immigrant in my own country. It might have something to do with autism and ADHD.

Norway is my roots but I don't feel that I have room to grow, so I've just become a stump. Not that I have unrealistic expectations that it would be that much better elsewhere. I've heard that life for misfits can be difficult in other places too.

There is probably something about the Internet though. Through the English language and all the nooks and crannies of the Internet you can reach with it, I have found a lot that I feel is important to me. You could say that knowing English has been quite important for my enjoyment of life.

One thing I noticed about the culture in my own home town was how narrow the acceptance of slightly unusual behaviour was. You only had to be a little weird before there were negative reactions. Almost to a degree that if you didn't breathe at the same pace as everyone else, it prompted negative reactions.

In Oslo, acceptance is greater. But no bigger than if I put on a hat and a fun shirt and go out here, I'll be approached sexually by several gay people, because apparently, only gays do this in Norway.

I think it has to do with the size of the place. The smaller the space, the less acceptance of individualism. The Law of Jante therefore does not only apply to small towns. It just expands a little to give more room for misfits if the place is a little bigger. You should preferably grow in a very specific way in small places. There is no room for anything else.

You can imagine a society with 3 people. Everyone has to do farming and fishing to survive. A little more people and you might have room for people who do other things.

I'm not put together to do what my culture expects of me. I'm in a parts drawer, but Norway is an electrician and I'm a transistor. Transistors are great if you are building a radio, but we don't do that here in Norway.

I could well imagine settling in a slightly bigger city than Oslo, but it's difficult when I'm not offered the opportunity to do so. I'd have to take a huge risk and go there empty-handed. I don't have the savings for anything like that.